Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Do you like going to conferences?

I do. In fact, I enjoy grasping new information, networking and, whenever possible, giving of myself in the form of a presentation. Right now I am working on one speaking engagement-cum-workshop for translation students in the summer resort of Mar del Plata, Argentina, for October 20-21, 2006.

I got great news regarding my thesis proposal yesterday: it got approved! Obtaining approval for my thesis idea was the easy part. Now it's time to calendar it and work hard at it.

I recently finished reading an excellent book, El lenguaje de las ciencias, by Bertha Gutiérrez Rodilla (Editorial Gredos, 2005). A must-read title for translators interested in terminology issues.

Back to translator education and books: last week I received in the mail Don Kiraly's A Social Constructivist Approach to Translator Education and Dorothy Kelly's A Handbook for Translator Trainers. Although I haven't had a moment to review them, I hope to do it soon as I begin working on my master's thesis.

There seems to be a market for translator trainers outside of the university realm. As many universities in Argentina --to name one country in my experience-- hold on to a rigidly academia-centered translator training model, mostly objectivistic in its pedagogy, most of the 400+ translators graduating across the country have little or no knowledge about areas that are critical to their professional wellbeing: translation project management and translation environment tools.

Well-known translation tool crusader and writer Jost Zetzsche has said to translators that they should first look at their workflow to determine if a translation environment tool (otherwise known as a CAT tool) is needed or ideal before going to purchase it. Teddy Bengtsson, in an article published in the December 2005 issue of Localisation Focus, said this in regards to translation tools in Argentina:

I hope we will see a move towards availability of freely available satellite versions of TM software, as well as smart and affordable solutions for small- to medium-sized vendors, as this would help to progress and develop the local market.
More to come.

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